Hindu Buddha the Distinctly Eastern

Hindu Buddha

The Distinctly Eastern Theological Orientation of Hinduism and Buddhism

Though the religious traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism are both highly variant in practice and their cultural identities fully distinct from one another, they are often regarding in western religious discourse as having various commonalities. In one respect, this is because these are dominant spiritual traditions in their respective spheres of the Asian continent. But beyond their geographical proximity, this discussion will show that these religious traditions share a common ground when addressed from a western tradition. Indeed, though Prothero and Neusner take wholly different perspectives on the two religions in question, their respective discussions reveal Hinduism and Buddhism as both diverging from the monotheistic structures common to the Judeo-Christian tradition. Such is to say that the faiths of Hinduism and Buddhism derive a commonality in the framework of this discussion because they are both being examined by authors of western origins. The result is a comparative discussion which reveals two spiritual traditions that are a significant departure from western modes of worship or religious practice.

Discussion:

In its two earliest incarnations, where its primary doctrines were first formed in the Vedas and, thereafter, in the Upanishad, there is explicit declaration of beliefs which are still in practice today, even if, as Neusner reports, this practice is more ritualistic than practical in nature. (p. 130) With respect to these beliefs, Neusner describes an evolving tradition in which a polytheistic and human-centered mode of theology began to distinguish Hinduism. In light of the historical roots of modern Hinduism, the eventual emphasis on humanism in defining the faith and the development of a uniquely pragmatic ethical code, it is easy to understand why Hinduism has arrived at its current identity as a faith in pursuit of theologically influenced social and scholastic progressivism.

The polytheism took its cues from the brand of spirituality which preceded it, adopting the ancient belief in animism to fit to its cultural tendencies. Animism stresses the notion that there is godliness in all earthly beings and objects found in nature. As Neusner describes it, "anthropologists sometimes use the term animism to describe the primal religious belief that all of nature -- things like rocks and seemingly nonconscious life-forms such as trees -- are alive and possess a nonmaterial 'spirit' (soul) or spiritual quality." (Neusner, p. 243) While animism did not define specific practices of worship, the philosophy attached to it dictated the need for communal oneness with nature and harmony with environmental surroundings, including other people. This provided a pathway for spirituality to the early Vedic thinkers. For these founding ideologists, this pathway led to the notion that there are multiple deistic beings which can occupy all manner of space and mental plane, a sharp-departure from the 'ethical monotheism' that underscores most western religious traditions.

This, perhaps, more than any other quality, helps to illustrate the common ground between Hinduism and Buddhism, which Prothero goes to even greater lengths to show are distinctly eastern in their theological orientation. Due to its origins in India, Buddhism was perceived in its earliest form by many as a mere sect of Hindu rather than a philosophy of its own foundations. Its practitioners, leading into the Common Era, were a statistically modest population of Indians who placed a spiritual emphasis "on experience over belief. Buddhism never had a creed or catechism until the American convert Henry Steel Olcott decided in the late nineteenth century that any self-resepcting religion needed both. This relative indifference toward religion's doctrinal dimension is rooted in the Buddha's celebrated refusal to speculate." (Prothero, p. 173)

In this respect, Prothero makes the argument that like Hinduism, Buddhism is pointedly non-declarative in its belief in a single god. In fact, the practice of monism is common in Buddhism worship and denotes that "everything is one." (p. 59) Again, like animism, this suggests the presence of some spiritual force in all things and not just in the definable form of a single deity.